Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 11, NWS Columbia, SC

February 21, 1997Lancaster County, South Carolina

NWS Columbia, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 21, 1997, 5:55 PM EST for Lancaster County, South Carolina. It was in force for 65 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Feb 21, 1997, 5:55 PM EST (22:55 UTC)
Expired: Feb 21, 1997, 7:00 PM EST
In force: 65 min
Issued by: NWS Columbia, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Lancaster County, SC

The radar

The Columbia radar (KCAE), 90 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:59 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Feb 21, 6:05 PM EST	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Lancaster, SC

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Feb 21, 5:00 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 171 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 527 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 52 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 164 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

767 
WUUS1 KCAE 212257 RRA
SVRCAE
SCC057-220000-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
555 PM EST FRI FEB 21 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  700 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN  SOUTH CAROLINA
 
   ...LANCASTER COUNTY
 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR SHOWS A LINE OF STRONG TO LOCALLY
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MOVING INTO LANCASTER COUNTY. THESE STORMS ARE
EXPECTED TO CONTINUE MOVING EASTWARD AT ABOUT 45 MPH. SIGNIFICANT WIND
DAMAGE HAS BEEN REPORTED WITH THESE STORMS.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
THESE WINDS BLOW DOWN TREES...POWER LINES...AND SEVERELY DAMAGE
MOBILE HOMES.  FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE
LOWEST FLOOR.  DONT DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.
 
 
 
&

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Feb 21, 5:49 PM EST, 6 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
549 PM EST FRI FEB 21 1997

TIME (EST) .....CITY LOCATION....... ST   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           .....COUNTY LOCATION.....

515 PM     NEWBERRY                  SC   WIND DAMAGE
02/21/97   NEWBERRY                       NEWBERRY COUNTY SHERIFF
                                          REPORTS POWER LINES AND
                                          TREE LIMBS DOWN  IN THE
                                          CITY OF NEWBERRY.

530 PM     EDGEFIELD                 SC   WIND DAMAGE
02/21/97   EDGEFIELD                      EDGEFIELD COUNTY SHERIFF
                                          REPORTS TREES DOWN ON
                                          LANHAM ROAD IN
                                          EDGEFIELD.

CTC

The office that day

Everything else NWS Columbia, SC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 21, 5:20 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Newberry	55 min
Feb 21, 5:24 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Edgefield, Saluda	66 min
Feb 21, 5:24 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Fairfield	66 min
Feb 21, 5:38 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Lexington, Richland	67 min
Feb 21, 6:24 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Kershaw	66 min
Feb 21, 6:40 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Lee, Sumter	65 min
Feb 21, 6:40 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Chesterfield	65 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in South Carolina, 1997 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1997

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.